THE ASSOCIATED PIRATES. 



197 



telope were discovered on a hill to the 

 West of us. Will was anxious for a try at 

 them, so I agreed to carry the buck to the 

 wall and wait for him. It was hot work 

 " toting " meat and by the time I reached 

 our designated meeting place I was tired. 

 Placing the game side by side I waited, 

 putting off hanging the carcasses to a tree 

 until Will should come back and lend a 

 hand. But Will failed to put in an appear- 

 ance, and as it was too dark then to handle 

 the game single handed I let it lay and 

 started for camp. Will was there ahead of 

 me. He had failed to get within range of 

 his antelope and finding himself nearer 



camp than our meeting point, had turned 

 that way. 



Henry, who had remained about camp 

 all day, had met with more luck than we. 

 In the afternoon he had " spotted " 3 deer, 

 a doe and 2 fawns, coming down to the 

 creek for water. He had stationed himself 

 accordingly and got all 3 of them. 



Henry's venison, by the way, was all that 

 comprised our " wagon load of meat " 

 when we pulled out for Loup City, the next 

 day; for when we went back after my deer, 

 the following morning, we found only the 

 scattered bones. The wolves had feasted 

 on the rest. 



THE ASSOCIATED PIRATES. 

 II. 



E. V. KEYSER. 



Every Friday evening last summer, a lit- 

 tle Canadian canoe, with lanteen sails, used 

 to run out of Spuyten Duyvil creek and 

 up and across the Hudson to a point op- 

 posite Riverdale. 



When within 100 yards of the shore, an 

 unearthly " Wow - ow - ow - 000 " woulcl 

 emanate from the canoe, to be answered 

 by the same melodious screech from a fig- 

 ure bending over a camp-fire, gracefully 

 waving off mosquitoes with one hand and 

 stirring potatoes with the other. 



Having given the spuds one last and 

 loving prod, Paresis Rafferty slowly and 

 majestically stalks down to the beach and 

 asks, "Where's the light?" 



" Tied up in a paper," says the man in 

 the boat, carefully untying a brown pack- 

 age and removing an imaginary spot from 

 the immaculate surface of a 6 pound driv- 

 ing lantern, as he gazes fondly at it. 



Paresis appears relieved. That lamp is 

 the other man's only weakness (he has 

 been accused of taking it to bed with him) 

 and Paresis humors him. 



" Well, Microbe, the supper's ready." 



In a very few minutes the supper is more 

 than ready — it is gone. Then comes dish 

 washing — but why describe it? Some use 

 hot water and soap, others just hot water, 

 still others use river water and sand, and 

 guests at spreads of the Associated Pirates 

 have learned that it is not the part of wis- 

 dom to pry into the methods employed by 

 them. 



Then comes a pipe, smoked on the 

 end of the little wharf, while the smokers 

 inhale the ozone and other things wafted 

 by the Southerly breeze from the fat ren- 

 dering establishment down the river. And 

 after the pipe comes bed (at least that is 



what they call it) consisting of 3 blankets 

 on the floor of an unoccupied shad-fisher- 

 man's hut, and pleasant dreams, broken 

 into by a rap on the door and an inquiry 

 "Full in there?" 



" No, but willing to be," says he of the 

 lamp, while the Hoboken crowd file in for 

 a chat, before retiring to the hut opposite. 

 They have had a hard pull up the river, 

 against the tide, only to find themselves 

 forestalled once more by Paresis and the 

 Microbe, who have again appropriated the 

 better house and most of the driftwood. 



About 8 o'clock the next morning 2 fires 

 are burning brightly and 2 breakfasts are 

 in course of preparation when a catboat, 

 manned by a nondescript crew of hard ap- 

 pearance and extremely profane speech, 

 runs up to the wharf. 



The pirates having guessed their inten- 

 tion some time before, have arrayed them- 

 selves accordingly, and 10 disreputable 

 figures are sitting on the wharf, arrayed 

 in bathing suits, skull-caps and sweaters 

 and carrying pistols, hatchets and bread 

 knives in their belts. The scheme is a suc- 

 cess. The company looks too tough even 

 for the cat-boat's crew and out they go 

 into the stream for some more secluded 

 location. 



The joy experienced at this desertion is 

 somewhat moderated by the discovery that 

 on one fire the boiling kettle has over- 

 turned and quenched the flames, while at 

 the other the flapjacks are too burned to be 

 useful, even after being sandpapered down. 



Having remedied their mishaps, and 

 stowed away the provisions where they will 

 do the most good, the Microbe and Pa- 

 resis, being the dudes of the multitude, sail 

 up the river to Yonkers for a shave, a Sun- 



